What Blooms Amidst Despair

"......"

"You've really outdone yourself this time."

The footage Monokuma projected onto the wall — a beam of light fired from eyes under Junko Enoshima's control — showed the orphanage children Kei had been close to. Their faces were gaunt, their bodies confined somewhere inside a building in Towa City.

Junko Enoshima watched the boy who sat staring at the screen in silence, savoring whatever reaction she might wring from him, and let her voice slide out, slick and amused.

"Upupupu... So, Kei...? Did you enjoy that? Hmm?"

"....."

"Come on, say something. Hmm?"

"....."

The boy in front of her had watched the video with a blank face at first. The moment the children's haggard faces filled the wall, his eyes went wide and a look of raw alarm broke across his features.

"Th-that's... why...?"

He muttered something half-formed, then stared at each of their faces in turn, and the alarm settled into something quieter and worse — worry, and a deep, restless unease.

"Already in despair...? But it's still a little early for that, don't you think...? Then here's the next video. Upupu..."

To drive the spike home, Junko Enoshima pressed a button and switched the feed.

The gymnasium filled the wall in real time. The students on the other end of the video call were reeling — startled, furious, sinking into despair. And then Monokuma announced that if a murder did not take place within twenty-four hours, a killing game would be forced on the people on the other side as well. The atmosphere in the gym collapsed into something ugly and airless.

The boy watched it all with his lips pressed into a hard line. When even Naegi's last stand was buried under the noise, he closed his eyes.

"So? What do you think of my brilliant plan? Oh, and of course that brilliant plan includes your little orphanage kids. I'll pick one of them to throw into the game, and as for the rest... well, I'll just leave them sitting there until I need them later!"

He had not moved. Eyes shut, not so much as a twitch. He looked like a child who believed that if he just kept his eyes closed, no threat in the world could touch him, and Junko found a laugh slipping out of her before she could stop it.

"Tell me. You worked yourself to the bone getting those kids to stand together. How does it feel, watching all of it turn into nothing?"

She was already reaching to pull Monokuma back, ready to leave the boy who had tried to protect everyone and failed to protect anyone — and then his voice stopped her cold.

"I feel lighter."

".....What?"

"I said I feel lighter."

".....?"

Had the stress finally cracked his head? She tilted her own, looking closer — and found that he had opened his eyes. He was looking at her with the one gaze in the world she loved and hated more than any other.

"Don't tell me... you finally ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠snapped under the killing game? Just went completely around the bend?"

"No. Not even close."

"Then what — you decided to cut those kids loose and go all out? That could be fun too, actually...?"

"Not that either."

"Then what's so light about this?"

The mockery had fallen out of her voice. What was left was genuine, almost childlike curiosity. The boy smiled.

"Because now those kids are going to be able to grow even further."

"What...?"

"There are some things you can only understand once you've known despair."

In the dead center of a gymnasium so still it felt as though time itself had stopped, Makoto Naegi stood in silence.

Get it together, Makoto Naegi. I can't let this play out the way the mastermind wants.

"...Everyone, listen to me—"

"Don't make me laugh."

".....Togami?"

"Are you telling me I swallowed my pride and bowed my head to help people who would fall into despair over something as small as this?"

".....Togami. Watch your mouth."

"Am I wrong, Kirigiri? A moment ago these people were wearing their mouths out swearing they would never give up. And now they've laid everything down as if it cost them nothing."

On any other day the others would have bristled at Togami's tone, snapping at him not to act so superior. This time no one did. Whether because what he said was simply true, or because none of them had the spirit left to take his words in at all, the gymnasium stayed silent.

Togami watched them for a long moment. Then he looked at them properly, and the words came out cold.

"If I had known from the start that you were this weak, I never would have considered cooperating with you at all."

For the first time, something cracked in the faces that had not so much as flinched at anything else he had said.

".....And you? You're standing there like none of this touches you?"

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Someone you care about is being held hostage... they're going to be forced into a killing game... and you're just fine? Isn't that the part that doesn't make sense...?"

Asahina's voice wavered as she put the question to him. Togami looked at her, let out a short, humorless breath, and fired back.

"Do I look fine to you?"

"...What?"

Only then did the others look at his hands. Togami had clenched his fists so hard that his nails had broken the skin. Blood was running between his fingers.

"S-see...! You too...!"

"I, at least, am angry. I have not set everything down the way the rest of you have."

"What...?"

"Yesterday, when my life was saved twice over, I felt helpless for the first time in my life."

He tightened his grip. More blood welled up than before. He did not look at it. He kept talking.

"I have thrown myself alone into a war of succession where people killed for the right to inherit — back when I had nothing. I never felt helpless then. Not once."

"....."

"The mastermind who made me feel that wretched thing will get nothing from me but rage. I will not stand around with a vacant look on my face, wallowing, the way the rest of you are."

".....!"

Asahina was still sniffling, but she had her teeth in her lip now, and the crying had stopped. Togami looked at her and finished.

"So stop whining. You should be angry too. Nothing more."

"...Ha! That's all well and good, except the holier-than-thou act is so thick I can't even listen to it...?"

Owada huffed out a laugh and shook his head.

"Look. Maybe that works for you. I'm doing this my way. I'm just gonna leave this shitty feeling alone."

"...What is that supposed to mean?"

"Someone told me this a while back. If something shitty happens, don't grind yourself down trying to beat it. Just leave it. Sooner or later your heart gets tired of leaving it alone, and it beats the shitty feeling on its own."

"Whoever gave you that advice is an idiot. That much is certain."

"Right? Sounds completely ridiculous, doesn't it?"

Owada smiled as he said the last of it.

"Let's see if it still works in a situation like this."

When Owada finished, Maizono spoke up, her voice even and calm.

"Everyone... if you look at it from another angle, this was the first time we've known for certain that the people we saw in that first motive video are still alive."

"S-so what if they're alive... In twenty-four hours they're—"

Hagakure, who had been sitting silent, cut in — and Maizono cut him off just as firmly.

"Are you going to stand there trembling over something that hasn't even happened yet?"

"Th-then what about you...? Your precious people are all gonna die in twenty-four hours. You're telling me you're not even scared?"

"Because I believe."

".....Come again?"

"The way fans all over the world believe in me — that's how I believe in Ayaka. And the way I believe in all of you is how I believe in the people who matter to you."

"What's that even supposed to mean...?"

"All of you came so close, and in the end not one of you committed murder. The people who are precious to people like that... they might find their way through this even more brilliantly than we have. Don't you think?"

"But there's no guarantee—"

"I'm not going to force my way of thinking on anyone. But this is an answer I had to fight very hard to find for myself. I think it's worth at least holding onto."

"....."

Hagakure shut his mouth, his face more serious than any of them were used to seeing. Ogami stepped forward next.

"Kenshiro asked me to trust him, and to protect everyone. For me to worry over a man like that would be nothing but a disgrace to him as a warrior. I have only just found the right path again. I intend to keep walking it."

"Everyone... everyone is so incredible, but I... I cannot calm myself...! My sister... my sister, the only person who has ever understood me, is in danger... I... I do not know what I am supposed to do...!"

Yamada was coming apart at the seams. Leon Kuwata set a hand on his shoulder and started talking.

"Yeah... I get it. I really do. Seeing my cousin like that — skinnier than I've ever seen her, the person who mattered to me more than anyone — it feels like my chest is being torn open."

"M-Mr. Leon Kuwata..."

"But if we fall into despair too, how the hell are we supposed to look them in the eye later?"

"L-later, you say...?"

"Yeah. Later. What, you planning on living in this place for the rest of your life?"

"I— I most certainly am not...!"

"There you go. You're a doujin artist, right? Something like that? Anyway — you crush this killing game, you get out of here, and you turn this whole mess into a book. It'll be a smash hit. Am I wrong?"

"W-well, certainly..."

"Yeah... and in exchange, you bump up my parts a little. Throw in some abs while you're at it. You get what I'm saying, right...? Ahem."

"E-everyone... you are all so admirable... I ought to follow your example, and yet I cannot find the courage... Tell me!! How does one come to possess courage such as yours...!!"

"Haa... You. Calm down."

"C-calm down, you say... When I could pour the whole of my passion into this and it would still not be enough...!!"

".....That is exactly why I am telling you to calm down, you overzealous pervert!!!"

"C-Celeste...! P-please, compose yourself...!"

".....Ahem. In any case, you would do well to calm down as a general practice. In a marathon as long as this one, a person who sprints at full power from the first step to the last will collapse long before the finish line. Will they not?"

".....I see. I understand."

Ishimaru's face cleared, as if something had finally settled into place, and the fever went out of him. Last of all, Fujisaki's expression hardened into something resolved.

".....I won't let this go the way Monokuma wants. Even if it costs me my life."

It was a short line. It was also the kind of line no one could have imagined coming from the fragile, pitiable figure of a few days ago — steady, and carrying a quiet charisma that made people want to believe it.

Only then did the others begin, faintly, to feel it: they still had hope.

Kirigiri watched them all, and a small smile touched her mouth before she turned to Naegi.

"It seems we've been underestimating everyone this whole time."

Naegi looked up at the security camera in the gymnasium, and this time he spoke without flinching.

And so, in the place where the first sprout of hope had been torn out, they planted a smaller seed in its stead — and finished preparing themselves to face the twenty-four hours of despair that were coming.

Monokuma stood still, watching the image on the wall. Minutes ago the bear had been cackling over a room full of panicking teenagers. Now it was quiet enough that it hardly seemed like the same creature.

"You're thinking, I gave them a choice where despair was the only answer — so why aren't they in despair? Aren't you?"

".....Upupu?"

"Right. Of course you can't understand them. Obviously."

"....."

"I'll give you the conclusion first. Those kids didn't overcome despair."

".....?"

"They just accepted the despair that was already inside them."

Junko tipped her head at Kei's sophistry. If those children had truly accepted despair, then why on earth were they putting on a display that repulsive?

"What, did you think that accepting the despair inside you automatically turns everyone into a despair-obsessed freak like you?"

"....."

"That's what happens to weak people. People as strong as those kids acknowledge the despair in themselves and use it as fertilizer — and they plant an even greater hope on top of it."

"....."

"Thanks for spreading such good fertilizer so they could grow on their own, Enoshima."

Monokuma looked at Kei once. Then it vanished.

"You people really are stupid."

Kei had been staring at ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the place where Monokuma had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠disappeared. From the corner of the room, where she had been sitting in frightened silence ever since the bear appeared, Ikusaba opened her mouth.

"No matter how much you rant about accepting despair, you can't stop a killing game from starting over there in twenty-four hours."

"....."

"You didn't win. You just ran away from reality."

".....Pfft."

".....Are you laughing?"

"No. I just thought Enoshima must be in a tighter spot than I realized."

"A tighter spot...?"

"Come on. This wasn't the plan, was it?"

".....!"

"A brand-new murder motive, announced without fail at the end of every single day — that already wasn't how this was supposed to go. And today you even played a card that wasn't on the schedule. An overreach. I'm right, aren't I?"

".....You. How much do you actually know?"

"If all of this had been allowed to happen slowly, over a long stretch of time, things might have turned out very differently."

"....."

"But you pushed too hard, too fast. You tore out the sprout of hope — and you left the roots. Enoshima of all people would have seen that coming. So why the rush? Unless... there's a reason you have to hurry?"

"You really are dangerous. I would kill you right now if I could. But my sister still wants you kept alive, so..."

"I don't know why you keep overestimating me."

".....?"

"Your sister made the same mistake. She overestimated me and underestimated those kids. That was Enoshima's decisive blunder today. I don't know why I draw so much aggro — but if it makes things easier on the others, I don't really care..."

".....I don't really understand any of that. But I wonder if you'll still be able to sit there looking that calm after you watch the people you care about murder each other in twenty-four hours."

Kei had been holding the laugh in for a while. It came out of him all at once.

"Pfft! Puhahahahaha!"

"What...? That's creepy..."

"In twenty-four hours, Enoshima's plan is going to fail."

"...What?"

Ikusaba pressed him, startled, demanding to know what that was supposed to mean. Kei only smiled at her, and thought, privately:

I don't know why it was there... but one of the orphanage kids had a Future Foundation hacking gun sticking out of their clothes.

Kei... it had been so long since I last saw him, and we barely even got to talk. I feel like all I did was make him worry. That hurts.

Somewhere inside a building in Towa City, in a space that could almost have passed for an ordinary family's home, a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠girl sat confined with her friends from the orphanage and let the thought turn over.

And what is that scar on his face supposed to be, you complete idiot. He got hurt helping someone again, didn't he. He can't even take care of himself, and all he ever does is take care of everybody else...

She spent a long time thinking about her foolish benefactor. Then her hands closed hard around the hacking guns hidden against her chest, and she set her heart in order.

That white-haired man said if I shoot this weird-looking gun at the Monokuma that comes to open the door in a little while, I can shut it down.

The man who had introduced himself as nothing more than a subordinate had been deeply suspicious. He had handed her the guns, told her to try showing him some hope, smiled in a way that made her skin crawl, and vanished.

She had promised Kei she would never trust a suspicious person again. But given the situation, she thought she could be forgiven for breaking that promise. Just this once. She turned it over in her head.

I've got two hacking guns. I'll use one myself... and if I meet someone I can trust, I'll give them the other one. Reinforce our numbers.

When the thought had settled into something solid, the girl glanced back at the children waiting behind her, tense and quiet, and made herself a promise.

"We'll meet again for sure. And I'm going to make you buy me a meal. So wait for me, Kei."

And a short while later, her adventure began — alongside an ordinary girl with nothing particularly remarkable about her, who introduced herself as Komaru Naegi.